Major General (Retd.) Ziaul Ahsan, former Director of the Intelligence Wing of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), illegally dispatched a portion of seized arms and ammunition from Chittagong’s infamous 10-Truck Arms Haul case to the Barishal RAB-8 headquarters without maintaining any official record or entry log.
Prosecution witness No. 13, retired Major Sabbir Rahman Osmani, disclosed this explosive testimony during cross-examination by the defense counsel at the International Crimes Tribunal-1 (ICT-1) in Dhaka.
Major (Retd.) Sabbir Rahman Osmani, who served as the Second-in-Command (2IC) of RAB-8 from 2009 to 2013, stated under cross-examination by defense lawyer Md. Shahidur Rahman: “Zia Sir (Ziaul Ahsan) stored additional weapons and ammunition at our office without any official record.” Upon further questioning by the tribunal, Osmani confirmed that these undocumented military supplies originated from the seized inventory of the 10-Truck Arms case.
During his testimony, Major Osmani laid bare the grim reality of RAB’s extrajudicial execution protocol, codenamed “Golf Operation.” He explained that under RAB’s operational jargon at the time, “Golf Operation” referred to executing a target, slicing open their abdomen, weighing the body down with cement bags or rocks, and submerging it in a river or sea.
Major Osmani disclosed that Ziaul Ahsan instructed him to eliminate Alkas Majhi—a former RAB informant—claiming Alkas was leaking details regarding Golf Operations in Char Duarani Market and posing a security risk. Expressing fear for his own life, Osmani noted: “I refrained from submitting written reports either publicly or secretly out of terror; I believed that disobeying Ziaul Ahsan’s order would lead to the same fate as Alkas Majhi.”
The witness further stated that following his return to the Bangladesh Army, he verbally briefed the then Army Chief regarding the enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, and severe operational irregularities conducted under Ziaul Ahsan’s command.
Ziaul Ahsan is currently on trial at the ICT facing charges of crimes against humanity, enforced disappearances, torture, and murder involving 104 individuals between 2010 and 2013. The accused maintains his innocence.
